Customs threshold increase for courier clearances expands eligibility and alters related procedural and documentation provisions immediately.
Amendments to the Courier Imports and Exports (Clearance) Regulations, 1998, effective 1 April 2023, delete the proviso in regulation 2(2)(e)(iii) and change punctuation, substitute a higher monetary limit in regulation 2(2)(e)(v), and increase the monetary ceiling in the first proviso of regulation 6(3), thereby raising the eligibility threshold for courier clearance procedures.

Commencement of Finance Act provisions: central government notifies commencement dates for specified sections of the Act.
The Central Government, invoking clause (b) of sub section (2) of section 1 of the Finance Act, 2023, appointed commencement dates by notification: the 31st March, 2023 for clauses (a) and (b) of section 135, and the 1st April, 2023 for sections 128 and 131, effecting the administrative activation of those statutory provisions.

Tariff concessions under India-UAE CEPA: customs notification substitutes tariff tables, revises duties, quotas and import conditions effective April.
The notification substitutes TABLE I, TABLE II and TABLE III of Notification No. 22/2022 Customs, revising basic customs duty rates, specifying AIDC rates for listed tariff items, introducing quota based in quota tariff and AIDC treatment with stated quota quantities, and amending Annexure conditions to require nominated agencies' IEC in TRQ authorisations and compliance with concessional import procedure; these measures implement the first tranche of India-UAE CEPA concessions and take effect from 1st April, 2023.

Tariff value fixation updates import valuation for edible oils, metals and areca nut effective from the stated date.
Amendment to Notification No. 36/2001-Customs (N.T.) substitutes TABLE-1, TABLE-2 and TABLE-3 to fix tariff values for specified imported goods, including edible oils (various palm and soybean oil entries), brass scrap (all grades), areca nuts, and specified forms of gold and silver, with unit-specific valuation measures and explanatory clarifications; the notification is effective 1 April 2023 as Notification No. 20/2023-Customs (N.T.).

Late-fee waiver for delayed GSTR-4 filings reduces liability for eligible registered persons filing within the prescribed period.
Late-fee relief under section 47 applies to registered persons who delayed FORM GSTR-4 for specified periods and furnish the returns from 1 April 2023 through 30 June 2023. Late fee exceeding two hundred and fifty rupees is waived for eligible filings. Where the total central tax payable in the relevant return is nil, the late fee is fully waived.

Tariff schedule amendment under customs law updates rates and concession entries for specified imports from Mauritius.
The notification amends an earlier customs notification to substitute a revised Table 1 of applied duty rates for listed tariff items, substitute Table 2 to set specified tariff concessions for certain HS eight digit entries, and amend Table 4 to change the quantitative limit for a listed item; the amendments are made under section 25 of the Customs Act and come into force on the stated commencement date.

Excise duty amendment extends the provisional effective rate applicability for high speed diesel to the next year.
Amendment to Notification No. 11/2017-Central Excise substitutes the year reference in the proviso to the Table entry for Sl. No. 3, column (3), after item (ii), thereby extending the period applicable to the effective rate of excise for high speed diesel; promulgated under section 5A(1) of the Central Excise Act by Notification No. 15/2023-Central Excise.

Limitation extension for recovery of unpaid GST and erroneous input tax credit now extends specified past financial years.
The Government, under state GST powers read with integrated and union territory GST provisions, extends the time limit for issuance of recovery orders for unpaid or short-paid tax and wrongly availed or utilised input tax credit for specified past financial years, by partially modifying earlier notifications and thereby widening the temporal window for departmental assessment and recovery actions.

Extension of limitation period for issuance of recovery orders under section 73(9) allows additional time to recover unpaid tax and wrong credits.
Notification extends the statutory limitation period for issuing orders to recover tax not paid or short paid and for recovery of input tax credit wrongly availed or utilised, specifying separate extended cut-off dates for three financial years and partially modifying earlier notifications under the delegated power to alter limitation for issuance of such recovery orders.

Late fee waiver for delayed final GST returns allows registered persons to file within extended window without excess late fee.
Waives the component of late fee for final GST returns (FORM GSTR 10) that exceeds five hundred rupees for registered persons who file after the due date but within the prescribed extended period, limited to returns furnished during that window and effected by central notification under the CGST Act.

Late fee rationalisation for annual GST returns: waiver beyond specified caps and amnesty for eligible delayed filers.
The State waives late fee under section 47 for returns under section 44 for 2022-23 onwards to the extent they exceed specified per-day caps: twenty-five rupees per day (up to 0.02% of turnover) for registered persons with turnover up to five crore rupees, and fifty rupees per day (up to 0.02% of turnover) for turnover above five crores and up to twenty crore rupees. For returns for 2017-18 through 2021-22 filed between 1 April 2023 and 30 June 2023, late fee shall be waived to the extent it exceeds ten thousand rupees.

Late fee waiver for delayed annual returns: caps on per day penalties and relief for specified past-year filings.
Waiver of specified portions of the late fee for delayed annual returns under section 44 for the financial year 2022-23 onwards is prescribed, setting per day fee rates and maximum caps for two turnover-based classes of registered persons; a transitional proviso waives late fee excesses above a prescribed threshold for certain prior-year returns filed within a notified window.

Assessment order withdrawal: deemed withdrawal if return filed and interest and late fee paid under prescribed special procedure.
Registered persons who failed to furnish a valid return within thirty days of service of an assessment order issued on or before 28 February 2023 shall have the assessment order deemed withdrawn if they furnish the return by the extended cut-off date and pay interest under section 50(1) and the late fee under section 47, regardless of whether an appeal against the assessment order was filed or decided.

Exemption from Biometric Aadhaar authentication amended to replace wording with proviso reference and made retrospective.
The Central Government amends Notification No. 27/2022 Central Tax by substituting the words "provisions of" with the words "proviso to" in order to clarify the textual reference to the exemption from biometric Aadhaar-based authentication under rule 8(4B) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017; the amendment is declared to be deemed to have come into force on the date of the principal notification.

Aadhaar authentication requirement for GST registration ties application date to Aadhaar verification and mandates biometric verification.
Applicants (except those separately notified) opting for Aadhaar authentication for GST registration must undergo Aadhaar authentication at submission, with the application date being the date of Aadhaar authentication or fifteen days from Part B submission of FORM GST REG 01, whichever is earlier. Applications flagged by portal risk analysis must then complete biometric Aadhaar authentication, photograph capture for individuals or notified persons for non-individual applicants, and original-document verification at a Commissioner notified Facilitation Centre; applications are complete only after these steps.

Revocation of GST registration: extended limited window to apply subject to filing returns and payment of dues.
Registered persons whose GST registration was cancelled on or before 31 December 2022 and who failed to apply for revocation within the time under section 30 may apply for revocation up to 31 August 2023 only after furnishing returns due up to the effective cancellation date and paying the tax, interest, penalty and late fee shown in those returns; no further extension is available. This class includes persons whose appeals under section 107 were rejected for failure to meet the time limit in section 30(1).

Late fee waiver: excess fees waived and full waiver where state tax is nil if returns filed in amnesty window.
The amendment inserts a proviso waiving late fee amounts in excess of two hundred and fifty rupees and fully waiving late fees where the total state tax payable in FORM GSTR-4 is nil, for registered persons who failed to furnish returns for quarters July 2017-March 2019 or financial years 2019-20-2021-22 by the due date but who furnish those returns between 1 April 2023 and 30 June 2023.

GST compensation cess adjusted to specified per unit retail price rates for tobacco and pan masala, with R defined as retail sale price.
Amends the Schedule to the principal notification by substituting specified per unit entries for multiple tariff items relating to tobacco, pan masala and related products, inserting new entries for homogenised/reconstituted tobacco and pan masala categories, and updating certain tariff classifications; per unit rates are expressed in terms of R denoting retail sale price.

Late fee waiver for delayed GSTR-4 returns allows excess fees to be waived if filed within the specified filing window.
For registered persons who failed to furnish FORM GSTR-4 for specified earlier periods but file between 1 April 2023 and 30 June 2023, the amendment provides that the late fee payable under section 47 of the CGST Act in excess of two hundred and fifty rupees shall be waived, and the entire late fee shall be waived where the total central tax payable in the return is nil.

Commencement of Section 163 brings the Finance Act provision on compensation cess into force as notified by the Central Government.
Section 163 of the Finance Act, 2023 is brought into force by a Central Government notification under clause (b) of sub-section (2) of section 1 of the Finance Act, 2023, appointing the day on which the provision concerning the compensation cess regime shall come into operation by Notification No. 01/2023-Compensation Cess issued by the Department of Revenue.